I assume Coke was on a 'maximum 6 per sale' offer or something, and really it sounds like you were being deliberately awkward and obvious. Having worked in retail many years ago we were generally told that when it was obvious two people were obviously together but making two separate transactions to avoid buying limits, don't sell them, or at least ask the supervisor.

If people made a little effort to make it less obvious (e.g. going to separate tills), we were told to ignore it. Less hassle and at least they weren't being smug about it.

I don't know if this has changed in the last 12 years but you can do the shop staff a favour by being less obvious about your methods of getting around the quantity limits. It's probably a company policy thing and it can be quite embarrassing to have to be so jobsworth about it. Making it obvious is just being needlessly smug.

(Original post by pjm600)
It does matter. Obviously she knew you were together and that you were trying to hide that fact for some unknown reason. She probably noticed you were buying a large amount of coke and so suspected that there might be a limit on the amount of coke purchasable in one transaction.

Why did you lie? She made a mistake so she's retarded? I presume you've never worked.

Excuse me, but I have never worked.

How the **** would you know that?

For your information, I work in an off license and I deal with all sorts of people. Yes I get liars and criminals but I treat them all with respect. Please and Thank Yous, are a must in business.

I wasn't in the best of moods when I went to shopping.

BTW don't be like a troll and say oh 'I presume you've never worked...' Maybe you've never worked.

(Original post by Narcissist)
Sainsburys are not legally allowed to sell more than 6 bottles of coke to one person because of the high risk of diabetes. It's similar to the rules regarding paracetamol.

Why would you lie about that? Haha. And if she's not allowed to question whether you and your aunt were together, then you shouldn't judge her, like someone before said, she may have had a long shift. And just because you can cope fine with long shifts, doesn't mean everyone can without becoming a little irritable. If it annoyed you that much, why don't you complain to customer service?

(Original post by Jussterr)
We are a polite nation with some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Any sociology students care to elaborate or explain this mind boggling phenomenon?

I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with the fact that many people are incredibly rude to people working as cashiers or in any kind of service job. I have experienced this first hand and it's crazy just how rude people can be - try putting up with that all the time and not wanting to bite back every so often.

Given the way that lots of people treat retail staff/waiters, etc., I can understand why they're often so grumpy. French 'customer service' types have a reputation for being rude, but it's only because they're not prepared to put up with the **** that our cashiers get. Yes, I did some work in retail.

(Original post by hannxo)
Why would you lie about that? Haha. And if she's not allowed to question whether you and your aunt were together, then you shouldn't judge her, like someone before said, she may have had a long shift. And just because you can cope fine with long shifts, doesn't mean everyone can without becoming a little irritable. If it annoyed you that much, why don't you complain to customer service?

So basically your Aunt came in with loads of coke. Then you went in with loads of coke whilst pretending not to know your aunt, and then she clearly thought you were doing something dodgy as you were lying, so she asked if she could sell it to make sure she wasn't doing anything wrong?

(Original post by Guru Jason)
The usuall rule is not to sell to much to one customer in case they tend to sell it on.

There are exceptions of course. One woman came in to the supermarket once and bought 20 tubs of butter. Usually we wouldn't have done this but it turns out she was cooking for Diwali which is why she bought that much.

^^ This reason probably! Also, was there an offer on the Coke or did you try and use a voucher? When I worked at Tesco there were loads of rules about what vouchers you could use with what products, how many per transaction etc etc. Or maybe the cashier was tired and fed up-I've been "short" with customers on the checkout before because I was so bored, it's nothing personal. I mean I got asked for I.D for cold medicine (not containing paracetamol) the other day and I'm 22! No point getting offended, they're just people not service machines as you will know as you work in retail.

(Original post by Jussterr)
We are a polite nation with some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

Any sociology students care to elaborate or explain this mind boggling phenomenon?

We're too polite to complain about the poor customer service, so nothing is ever done about it.

On the OP, I don't think anyone's really at fault. The cashier might have just been having a bad day, we all have them. You lying about not knowing your aunt wasn't necessary though, you needlessly fanned the flames

Fundamental Attribution Error - Where we attribute someone's behaviour based on their personality rather than the situation they're in when both causes are just as likely. We see the cashier as being impolite, rude and horrible when for all we know she could just have has a divorce.

As someone who works as a cashier, I know what it's like to deal with grumpy customers and they can grate on you. However every customer is new and you should always put on a happy act, it makes the whole experience nicer for you and the customer (short hand answer: cashier was in wrong)

(Original post by hskjlclcn)
As someone who works as a cashier, I know what it's like to deal with grumpy customers and they can grate on you. However every customer is new and you should always put on a happy act, it makes the whole experience nicer for you and the customer (short hand answer: cashier was in wrong)

personally, at best i think it's a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other.

(Original post by askew116)
personally, at best i think it's a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I don't know about that, obviously from what OP has told us it just seems like she was pissed off for whatever reason, which is obviously unprofessional - but I guess we have only heard half the story!